LSD for Breakfast #2
Welcome!
Ok, Volume #2. This volume is dedicated to a life-changing experience I had last equinox, an epic adventure to Death Valley. On this journey, I had many realizations, one of which was my desire for a voice, a platform for my unique ideas and opinions on psychedelics. Thus, LSD for breakfast was born.
I just wanted to take a moment and express my gratitude to everyone who has inspired me over the last decade. I hope you enjoy volume #2!
Shoutout
For the second volume of LSD for Breakfast. I wanted to give a big shout-out to the Mind Army (https://mindarmy.org/). This amazing group of psychedelic advocates is working to change the dialogue on how psychedelics can be used as an effective medicine for mental health. Please check them out.
The Mind Army planned and organized the trip to Death Valley and connected many extraordinary people. Thank you, Zappy, Sparrow, Atom!
So you want to be a psychedelic scientist?
I want to start by saying everyone has the potential to become a psychedelic scientist.
It's a good chance you are already well on your way and don't even know it. The media tends to create a lot of mythology around who scientists are and what they do. It's not a mystical art by any means. Science is a set of specific information applied to a method of systematically failing until you don’t. This is called the “Scientific Method.” Anyone who applies the scientific method is and scientist doing science.
So what is the scientific method? This can be captured in six simple steps:
Ask a question about something you observe.
Do background research to learn what is already known about your observation.
Construct a hypothesis.
Experiment to test the hypothesis.
Analyze the data and develop conclusions.
Communicate the results to others.
Developing and testing hypotheses about sciences such as botany, chemistry, and physics makes you a scientist and typically involves mostly quantitative results. Developing and testing. Hypothesis about human action and interaction such as psychology, anthropology and sociology makes you a social scientist and typically involve mostly qualitative results.
We typically refer to people who apply the scientific method but aren't formally trained in science as citizen scientists. Sometimes we need to realize just how much important work citizen scientists have done and what they have contributed to science. Don't believe me? There are several astronomical discoveries which citizen scientists have made. Another example? Look at almost all the different cannabis products now available. Almost all these extraction methods and dosage form factors were developed before this plant's legalization in Canada.
My path to becoming a psychedelic scientist started at the end of my second undergraduate degree in anthropology. A mentor and Canada's foremost ethnobotanist encouraged me to look more at the research on psychedelics, particularly in Ethnobotany and the research of R.E. Schultes, her former thesis supervisor. It was because of this advice and subsequence research that I came to realize that field of psychedelic research was a legitimate academic pathway for me. I am forever grateful for her guidance as it charted the course for my graduate and post-graduate work in psychedelic medicine.
Now, if you want to be a scientist and be recognized in your field, you will have to pursue some graduate and, most likely post-graduate training. From a learning outcomes perspective, many educational tools are now available to us, making formal university training less attractive than it was ten years ago. However, graduate and post-graduate degrees are a societal recognition.
Your master's degree shows you can conceive and carry out your research project and publish the results. While the Ph.D. burdens you with an obligation to expand human knowledge. In both cases, once granted, society recognizes these qualifications and your abilities to design, experiment and report on the science. Is it 100% necessary to have graduate/postgraduate degrees? No, it is not, but it makes the path forward smoother.
Degree(s) or not, you’re a psychedelic scientist. Now what? What and where do you study? That will be up to you. The most important thing to remember is that psychedelic scientists use psychedelics. Regardless of your research, a competent psychedelic researcher will always seek to understand all aspects of the psychedelic experience.
Final thoughts:
Don't let anyone stifle your dream to study psychedelics. Ignore them and just do it.
If you want to move beyond citizen science, you will need at least a graduate degree. Both graduate and post-grad training add legitimacy to what you are reporting.
There are multiple pathways to research. Doing work at home in your kitchen, university, industry, all ways to get to do the research you want.
Plant nerd - Datura
Datura is a mystical plant shrouded in mystery and mystique. One thing everyone can agree on is that the entire genus is dangerous but beautiful.
The Danger - The psychoactive compounds in the Datura genus are called tropane alkaloids, primarily scopolamine and atropine. These compounds, classified as deliriants, are concentrated in the plant's seeds and flowers and some species in the roots. Traditional cultures in the Americas used different species of this genus for a variety of ritual use. North American tribes used it to initiate youth into adulthood, whereas the Aztecs used it as part of ritual sacrifice. It is still used for witchcraft and occult practices in Mexico and Central America. It can also be deployed for malevolent purposes.
The Beauty - colloquial known as “angle trumpet,” the flowers of this genus are showy, trumpet-shaped flowers. Unlike their cousins, Brugmansia, the Datura flowers are erect and spreading (face upwards). These plants are prolific, flowering multiple times during the year and forming spiny seed capsules that, when ripe, release numerous seeds.
The Future is Bright
“Today, I walked into the desert, not knowing who I was. On the journey, I did not find myself but realized that I knew who I was all along, ”
Spring Equinox, 2022, I did something out of the ordinary. I got on a plane, flew to LA and joined a group of extraordinary people on a trip to death valley.
It was an amazing experience! One that I will remember for the rest of my life. The connections that I made during our journey were deep and meaningful. I consider it one of the peak experiences in my life, and I will be forever grateful for the people I met and my experiences.
The details of this experience have been written about by the brilliant journalist/author Amanda Siebert. She published a story about our experience in Forbes earlier this year. I highly recommend that you check out this article.
It took me considerable time to integrate all the feelings, thoughts, ideas, conversations and realizations from this experience. Even this newsletter is one of the many outputs of this journey into the desert!
One theme has been predominant as I have worked through my integration, the importance of collective psychedelic experiences.
Collective psychedelic experiences have been around, well, since there were humans. There are countless traditional practices worldwide in which collective psychedelic rituals bring people together to have a psychedelic experience. It is hypothesized that these rituals contributed to the overall group cohesion. I would go one step further and propose that they were a critical element to the development and survival of the human species. When the psychedelic experience is a collective experience, we amplify our ability to generate insights as we reflect our experience in the experience of others. In turn, others reflect their experience in ours.
Classical psychedelics like psilocin, LSD and mescaline (and others) allow us, during our experience, to interact with fellow explorers. We can communicate and connect. We share not only the compound and the environment but the collective experience. This creates a unique network of collective consciousness for a moment in time. When this collective consciousness is leveraged, we create lasting, long-term connections and develop greater neuroplasticity and new and innovative ideas through sharing and reflecting on our own experiences with others.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those solely of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any businesses or institutions with which the author may be associated. Any content provided by authors in this publication is their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone else.